Society for Storytelling

Storyteller Directory: Louise Coigley

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Name: Louise Coigley

Location: East Sussex

County: East Sussex

Telephone:

Email: lfc@lisntell.com

Website: http://www.lisntell.com

I am a Speech and Language Therapist and trained storyteller(The School of Storytelling, Emerson College),Creative Speaker(Artemis School of Speech and Drama), and Curative Educator(Camphill).
For the last twenty years I have been developing an approach to communication development - Lis’n Tell: Live Inclusive Storytelling. During the last fifteen years I have trained scores of teachers, parents and therapists in this imaginative and versatile yet practical method of storytelling which enables and develops spontaneous intentional communication. I have worked with thousands of children with and without learning challenges in the UK, Nova Scotia and France, and have run workshops for adults in Australia, Canada, Germany, Singapore and England.
Last autumn, in 2008 I started teaching Lis’n Tell at Greenwich Medway University to postgraduate students of Speech Pathology and Therapeutics. I have also taught Lis’n Tell to MA Drama students at Canterbury University, and recently trained ministerial and lay staff in the Diocese of Canterbury.
My work has been featured on Radio Kent, Leith Community Radio and in Special Children and SEN Magazines.
My two one woman shows: ‘Back to Back with Frida Kahlo’ and ‘The Foibles and Fables of Miss Coigley’ have played at Community and National Arts Festivals in Canterbury and The Brighton Fringe in 2004, where  ‘Back to Back with FK’ sold out.
I am currently writing up my research into storytelling conducted with Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
I worked intermittently for two years with Nicola Grove and the Unlimited Company.
This year I have done residencies in 2 schools, one with students with physical disabilities and the other with students with learning and attention challenges.
This summer, 2009, with co-teller Danya Miller, I performed ‘‘It was a Dark and Stormy Night’‘, based on the story by Alan and Janet Ahlberg at The Scottish Storytelling Centre. Our show reached the top five HITLIST! out of about 100 childrens’ shows at The Edinburgh Fringe.
I run regular national Lis’n Tell training days and weekends and present at SIGs and conferences.
I find that storytelling is as much about listening as telling and my favourite quote at the moment is: ‘‘When the personal is not separate from the collective, your spirit is not separate from your body and you as a performer are not separate from your audience, then true art can happen or ‘duende’ as they say in Spanish, or ‘tarab’ as they say in Arabic’‘. - Reem Kelani

• Has special needs experience
• Performs indoors
• Performs outdoors
• Performs to adults
• Performs to audiences over 100 in number
• Performs to audiences up to 100 in number
• Performs to audiences up to 40 in number
• Performs to pre-school age children
• Performs to primary age children
• Performs to secondary age children
• Runs workshops for adults
• Runs workshops for children
• Travels anywhere in the U.K.